SALVADOR or EL SALVADOR (sometimes incorrectly called San Salvador from its capital city), the smallest and most densely populated republic of Central America and probably the most intensively cultivated country in Latin America. It is bounded on the north and east by Honduras, on the south by the Pacific ocean and on the west and north-west by Guatemala. It is the only republic of Central America which has no Atlantic seaboard. Population (on December 31, 1930), 1,459,578. The republic is 140 m. long from east to west, and 6o m. wide; its greatest length is about 16o miles. Its area is 13,176 sq.m. (34,126 sq.km.) ; the population density is thus about 111 per sq.m., a greater density than that of any other national area in the Western Physical Features.—The chief physical features of Salvador are the two mountain chains, largely independent of the central Cordillera of Central America, which cross the country and the rich river valleys (chiefly that of the Rio Lempa). The mountains are accented by a series of volcanic cones, some of ancient and some of recent origin, which cross the country from east to west. Most of the area of the country is comprised in the plateau, some 2,000 ft. high, between the mountain chains, the region in which the coffee of Salvador is cultivated, and in which are situated the volcanoes. The Rio Lempa rises in Guatemala, crosses a corner of Honduras, and entering Salvador near Citala, flows east, forming its famously rich and beautiful valley, 'turns south at the base of the volcano Siguatepeque, and enters the Pacific at 8o° 4o' W. The Lempa is the only river of importance, and although it can be navigated for portions of its course, is little used. The Rio San Miguel drains the country between the Bay of Fonseca and the Lempa valley. The volcanoes are clustered into more or less well defined groups, and in some of these beauti ful crater lakes are found ; the largest of these, Lake Ilopango, has been used as a landing place for seaplanes. The most impor tant volcanic groups are, from west to east : the Izalco group, including Izalco (thrown up in 177o), Marcelino, Santa Ana (8,30o ft.), Naranjos, Aguila, San Juan de Dios, Apaneca, Tama
jaso and Lagunita; the San Salvador group, 3o m. east, the chief cone of which is San Salvador; Cojutepeque to the north-east ; the San Vicente group farther east, marked by San Vicente volcano and Lake Ilopango ; and the San Miguel group, to the south east, including notable landmarks like San Miguel (7,120 ft.), Chinameca, Buenapa, Usulatan, Tecapa and Taburete. Two other volcanoes, Cacaguateque and Sociedad, in the north-eastern portion of the country, lie in the Cordillera and are not to be taken as part of the Salvador groups proper. Many of these volcanoes are in eruption, and San Miguel has had violent out bursts in recent years. In 1923 San Salvador suffered an eruption which destroyed the coffee crop and damaged the city. But plants whose crops are destroyed by eruptions of volcanic dust invariably come up again with renewed vigour.
Climate.—Salvador has, in general, a climate similar to that described under Central America, but locked in as it is by the Cordillera which marks its boundaries with Guatemala and Honduras, it has an almost temperate climate, on the table-land and along the mountain slopes, which are intensively cultivated for coffee, often to the very summits of the hills or volcanoes.
The lowland is often hot and sultry when the winds are not blow ing. The recognized seasons are the wet and the dry, the wet season, from May to October, being confusingly called "winter" in Salvador, the dry season, from November to April, "summer." Winds and thunderstorms mark the middle of the wet season, in July and August, and in September and October the rains are almost continuous, but moderate. Following the August storms, there is a brief dry spell, the "dog days," veranillo or "little summer," when crops are planted and preparations made for ob taining the greatest productivity from the soil. In the earlier days, when Salvador suffered from revolutions, there was a tradition that no revolution could be fought during the veranillo, as both armies insisted on returning home to attend to their planting.